[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 53 (Tuesday, March 27, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H3086]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  PRESIDENT REFUSES TO CHANGE COURSE AND CALLS HOUSE ACTION POLITICAL 
                                THEATER

  (Mr. COHEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, last week the Democratic House delivered on 
its promise to move the Iraq war in a new direction. We approved a very 
serious piece of legislation that includes the recommendations of the 
President, the nonpartisan Iraq Study Group and the Pentagon. The 
President responded to our action by describing it as political theater 
and threatening a Presidential veto.
  How can this be political theater if we are putting some real teeth 
into the benchmarks that the President himself established for the 
Iraqi government earlier this year? Let's not forget the President's 
own words: ``I've made it clear to the Prime Minister and Iraq's other 
leaders that America's commitment is not open-ended. If the Iraqi 
government does not follow through on its promises, it will lose the 
support of the American people,'' said President Bush. Those were his 
words.
  This legislation passed last week puts in law the President's demands 
that the Iraqis meet his benchmarks. You would think the President 
would support such action. Instead, he calls it political theater. So 
much for holding the Iraqi government accountable. The President should 
reconsider his veto threat. It could be the theater of the absurd.

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